Long-running series Marae DIY brings a tangata whenua twist to the home renovation format. Series creator Nevak Rogers describes the bilingual production as "the programme which helps marae knock out their 10 year plans in just four days". The drama of the building mahi is mixed with humour, whānau-spirit, tikanga (protocol) and history, and even makeovers for the nannies. For Marae DIY's 11th season in 2015, it shifted from Māori Television to TV3. In 2007 the 'Manutuke Marae' episode won a Qantas Award for Best Reality Show.

WA$TED gave an eco twist to the DIY renovation genre, by giving homes a green makeover. In this first episode the young family learning about sustainability are the Petelos, a household that guzzles gas and churns out trash. Patrick Petelo learns that if his example (taking the train a couple of days a week) was widely followed, Aotearoa’s carbon emissions would be reduced by 15%. Created by Carthew Neal, the show's format sold overseas, including to US channel Planet Green (now Destination America). Co-presenter Francesca Price later launched sustainability mag Good. 

Houses have long been central to New Zealand's identity, from the whare to the quarter-acre pavlova paradise, to The Block and the 2000s Auckland bubble. This TVNZ ‘home show’ looks at the obsession, circa the early 90s: exploring contemporary grand designs, renovation dilemmas, and meeting Kiwi personalities of the era in their homes. The first of four series was presented by actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand and builder (and future Dunedin mayor) Dave Cull. Jim Hickey and Jude Dobson later joined Cull. The show spawned a 1994 book written by Cull and Stuart Niven.

This TVNZ ‘home show’ explores 90s grand designs and their architects, renovation dilemmas and Kiwi personalities in their houses. This debut episode is presented by actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand and builder (and future Dunedin mayor) Dave Cull. Ward-Lealand visits architect Roger Walker in his pastel pink and green Tinakori Road home, intros a “70s Cinderella” bathroom do-up, and drops in on DJ Kevin Black’s arts and crafts-style mariner’s cottage. Cull tests a non-stick frying pan and a barn house. Date stamps include denim shirts and a saxophone theme tune.

Billy T’s unique brand of humour is captured at its affable, non-PC best in this compilation of skits from his popular 1980s TV shows. There’s Te News (“somebody pinched all the toilet seats out of the Kaikohe Police Station...now the cops got nothing to go on!”) with Billy in iconic black singlet and yellow towel; a bro’s guide to home improvement; skits about first contact, and a take off of Miami Vice. No target is sacred (God, the IRA, the talking Japanese sketch) and there are classic advertising spoofs for Pixie Caramel’s “last requests” and Lands For Bags’ “where’d you get your bag”.

For this 2015 Marae DIY episode, presenters Ria Hall and Te Ori Paki travel deep into Tūhoe territory to makeover the unique Maungapōhatu marae. The settlement was established by prophet Rua Kenana in 1907, beneath the sacred mountain of Maungapōhatu. The remote location means the Tamakaimoana people have had to embody the DIY of the show’s name. The team uncover relics of Kenana’s circular parliament, gather native bush seasoning for the hangi, and face mud and rain, horses wandering onto the marae, and getting concrete mixers up the steep mountain.

This episode from the 11th season of the award-winning show sees presenters Te Ori Paki and Ria Hall and company makeover a unique marae: Rongomaraeroa-o-nga-hau e wha. The marae in Waiouru serves members of the NZ Army — aka Ngāti Tūmatauenga — and the local community. Capturing the role of taha Māori in the Defence Force, the makeover enlists 140 new Army recruits, locals, whānau, hapu, ex-military personnel from all over New Zealand, and Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata. This season saw Marae DIY shift from Māori Television to TV3.

Steve Ayson’s supernatural short puts a twist on ‘domestic violence’ as a DIY home renovator fits a set of second-hand french doors to his doer-upper. He discovers that light isn’t all they let in. French Doors won selection to Melbourne and Clermont Ferrand festivals and sold to UK’s Channel 4 and France’s Canal Plus. At Locarno in 2002, Ayson won a ‘Leopard of Tomorrow’ prize, in a year the festival spotlit down-under films. Ayson has gone on to build a global career as a commercials director (including local classics Ghost Chips, and Lotto’s Lucky Dog).

In the middle of a decidedly average day, a house painter (The End of the Golden Weather's Stephen Papps) discovers an old flask in a hole in the wall. This short film, written and directed by James Cunningham and brought to life by 28 of his students at the Media and Design School, explores the idea of wish fufilment. The painter gets a great deal on the usual three wish limit from a blue genie with a Scottish accent, and samples a list of childhood dreams, including fighting fires, racing cars and photographing dinosaurs in the wild. All offer chances to showcase some CGI magic.

The enormous significance to Māori of marae, as places of belonging where ritual and culture can be preserved, is explored in this Pita Turei-directed documentary. Made in conjunction with the NZ Historic Places Trust, it chronicles the programme to restore marae buildings and taonga around the country — and the challenge of maintaining the tribal heritages expressed in them. As well as visiting some of NZ's oldest marae, one of the newest also features — Tapu Te Ranga, in Wellington’s Island Bay, which is being built from recycled demolition wood.